No Place like Home

Here it is Sunday night and I have been sitting at the computer most of evening. It was nice and comforting to talk with two of my kids on line....the third just left to go back home so I am feeling very mellow and very sentimental right now. I wrote a bunch of emails to friends and killed a few Snoods. The TV has been off all evening and the silence has been calming and refreshing. Dear Ole Dad is lost in a book somewhere off the southern coast of France. He is so cute snuggled on the couch with two kitties sleeping on his chest, (the kittens are so warm I'm sure it won't be long till he is asleep too!)

I bought a new premiere issue magazine called Rescue. According to editor Dan Ho , (no , not the Hawian singer of Tiny Bubbles in the Wine) it is a lifestyle magazine that "emphasized the person over the ultimate chocolate cake recipe". The opening page caught my eye with the simple message by Dan Ho.

"When I was nine years old, super typhoon Pamela hit where I lived . For eight hours, my parents, brothers, and sisters and I sat huddled in our cellar while the winds screamed and the earth moaned.

In the morning, we walked upstairs and found ourselves standing outside. Our house and everything in it had disappeared. My mom and dad began to silently count us and when a smile of relief came across their lips, I knew in my heart our home had remained untouched.

I suppose my notion of home has had little to do with house ever since."

I was deeply moved by the visual picture that experience left with me.....and indeed our house is not what I come home to. My favorite mug is a Christmas mug....its unique because it has a lid to keep the contents warm, it has all my favorite things on it....snowflakes, a cute snowman, a big red heart, a blue bird with bird house and nest, a Christmas tree with a star, hearts, stars, a smiling Santa and these words....All hearts come home for Christmas. All the hearts that I deeply love were home this Christmas and I am most richly blessed because of it!